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Transformational nature of pilgrimage

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Dear All

I'm interested in the transformational nature of the pilgrimage experience, as I've walked a number of pilgrimages myself in the past. So now I'm researching this for my dissertation on the MSc in Psychological Trauma at the University of Chester. Amazingly, this aspect of pilgrimage hardly appears at all in the academic literature, and it's time it did! I think this is why many of us do it to start with. I'm looking to make contact with anyone who feels their experience of walking the Camino (any route) has helped them work through some personal crisis, or highly stressful or traumatic event or situation in their lives, and who feels they've grown as a person through their struggles with whatever it was they were dealing with. This kind of personal growth is known as posttraumatic growth, but in this context, "trauma" has a much wider applicability than solely PTSD or Complex PTSD. If anyone would like more information about my research project, or would possibly be interested in being interviewed about their experience of walking the Camino, please get in touch. I have a research page on Facebook - see @KarenWilliamsResearch, and there's also an Information Sheet I can send to potential participants.

Many thanks
Karen
This research project has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Chester.
 
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Yes. My first Camino as I was near retirement; and meditating on 'how much is enough?'. About day 7, I had the sudden insight (Paul on the road to Damascus, exhaustion, heat, dehydration, hunger??) that I was working with the wrong question.

The correct question for me was 'how little is enough?'.
Life has been much better since!! So I guess that is transformation.

Good luck with your research. I am not sure that there is a simple/research-able answer; there are separate stories for all 300,000 composela each year. And before I left I already knew that the answer to big existential questions was"42"
 
Hi alhartman

Thank you for sharing your experience of transformation on the Camino. If only we could all learn that! Yes, it wasn't easy to formulate a research question for this topic. It took many months of thinking about it and sitting with it. The formal title of my dissertation is:

"Pilgrimage and posttraumatic growth: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the experience of walkers on the Camino de Santiago who have experienced posttraumatic growth."

And I have two actual questions that I hope to answer from the interview texts of my participants:

1) How do individuals experience pilgrimage treks on the Camino de Santiago as part of their healing from psychological trauma?

2) Do these experiences contribute to posttraumatic growth as described by Tedeschi and Calhoun (1996, 2004)?

Tedeschi & Calhoun are the most prominent researchers in the field of posttraumatic growth. Their model takes Janoff-Bulman's "Shattered Assumptions" theory of trauma for its definitions of what "trauma" means. And it's a very wide definition, far greater than solely PTSD-type ideas. And guess what - the Tedeschi & Calhoun model of posttraumatic growth is known as the transformational model. That's how come I can research what pilgrimage is really about.

Wishing you well, alhartman.

Kind regards
Karen
 
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Yes. My first Camino as I was near retirement; and meditating on 'how much is enough?'. About day 7, I had the sudden insight (Paul on the road to Damascus, exhaustion, heat, dehydration, hunger??) that I was working with the wrong question.

The correct question for me was 'how little is enough?'.
Life has been much better since!! So I guess that is transformation.

Good luck with your research. I am not sure that there is a simple/research-able answer; there are separate stories for all 300,000 composela each year. And before I left I already knew that the answer to big existential questions was"42"
Answering the question "How little is enough" is what enabled me to go on my Camino, I figured out the answer to that about 8 years ago, I gave up a well paid steady job to stay home with my poorly wife, ( now healthy), since that time I have been working only 6 months pet year in small minimum wage jobs to supplement a small military pension.in those 8 years I have had more adventures with my wife than I had when I was earning twice as much. I have spent the last 8 years on my spiritual development, I think this is why I did not have any great revelations on the Camino, many of the stories and experiences People talk of are things that I experience all the time. I am in the very fortunate position to have the time to sit and contemplate life on a daily basis. Admittedly I gave up a decent job to do the Camino because I did not want to make an excuse for not going. I know in my heart that another job will come along soon.
 
Actually, when one gets to the bottom of everything one hears from Camino Peregrinos, it is all about transformation. your study is really interesting and could important to understanding what is pilgrimage and what is holiday for instance. And that question is totally apart from parochial questions. If you would like to contact me, i would be glad to share thoughts I have had on this. My email: personal email address deleted by moderator
 
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Dear All

I'm interested in the transformational nature of the pilgrimage experience, as I've walked a number of pilgrimages myself in the past. So now I'm researching this for my dissertation on the MSc in Psychological Trauma at the University of Chester. Amazingly, this aspect of pilgrimage hardly appears at all in the academic literature, and it's time it did! I think this is why many of us do it to start with. I'm looking to make contact with anyone who feels their experience of walking the Camino (any route) has helped them work through some personal crisis, or highly stressful or traumatic event or situation in their lives, and who feels they've grown as a person through their struggles with whatever it was they were dealing with. This kind of personal growth is known as posttraumatic growth, but in this context, "trauma" has a much wider applicability than solely PTSD or Complex PTSD. If anyone would like more information about my research project, or would possibly be interested in being interviewed about their experience of walking the Camino, please get in touch. I have a research page on Facebook - see @KarenWilliamsResearch, and there's also an Information Sheet I can send to potential participants.

Many thanks
Karen
This research project has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Chester.
Karen, I’m so glad you are researching this, as it seems so many fellow pilgrims have had similar experiences. It was certaily “transformational” for me on my first - and only - Camino, so far, in 2017 when I walked the Camino Portugues. I plan/hope to walk the CF in Holy Year 2021. My wife has younger onset Alzheimer’s and I am her caregiver. My daughters gave me a tremendous gift when they told me, “Dad, we know you have wanted to walk the Camino. Go do it; we’ll take care of Mom.” So I did.
Somewhere on the trail south of Arcade in the blazing heat of August, was the first real chance I had to really process things, how this disease had dashed all our plans, how our future would be. It hit me like a ton of bricks and for the first time I broke down and sobbed. I didn’t care; I was alone on the trail. But then there was this overwhelming feeling of calm; that feeling that despite what had happened, things would work out. And so I went on. I met some wonderful people. We shared as much or as little as we cared about our lives, our circumstances. It was almost like Confession, knowing that what was shared was held in confidence - feeling blessed and unburdened. Arriving at the Cathedral in Santiago was an emotional experience for me and the people I had befriended. When I returned home I was on fire and people noticed something different. My challenges as a caregiver have not disappeared, but I have been able to meet them with new vigor and a greater sense of peace. Happy to share more with you as part of your project. Good luck.
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
PS, you can email me at: personal email address deleted by moderator
 
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Hi Karen,

I also wrote my dissertation on the topic of the Camino, so I can relate to your experience!! Best of luck to you.

I walked the Camino shortly after losing my mother, and I would definitely say that the pilgrimage served as a way for me to work through my grief. I didn’t come home “fine”; grief doesn’t work like that. But there is a catharsis in pilgrimage, and the experiences I had while on the trail were certainly healing. I would be happy to discuss this further if you would like. Feel free to email me at personal email address deleted by moderator
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Just a gentle reminder: posting your personal email address on a publicly accessible web page slash forum is only a good idea if you are happy to receive lots of spam in the near future. Or worse. If that doesn't make you happy, better use the PM function of this forum. (Hover mouse over member name and select "start a conversation".)
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Just a gentle reminder: posting your personal email address on a publicly accessible web page slash forum is only a good idea if you are happy to receive lots of spam in the near future. Or worse. If that doesn't make you happy, better use the PM function of this forum. (Hover mouse over member name and select "start a conversation".)
Dear Purky
Thank you for explaining about the PM and how to do that. I wasn't aware of that. And thank you to all the people who have contributed to this thread so far. It's very encouraging to hear of your experiences and that you can attest to the transformational nature of pilgrimage. I feel I ought to let people know that there are some strictures put upon me by the ethical approval for this research from my university. One is that because of the university's own insurance policy, I can only interview people who are resident in England or Wales in the UK. And also, as people are saying, it takes time after returning from the Camino for the effects of the experience to percolate through one's life. The biggest pilgrimage I did in Asia was over ten years ago, and I'm still integrating the learnings from that now! So I'm hoping to be able to interview people who did their walk between one and five years ago. But I'm interested to hear from anyone who wants to contribute to this conversation - thank you for sharing your experiences.
Kindest regards
Karen
 
Of course it's about transformation.
You get more and more comfortable in your own skin, and more and more comfortable with others in theirs.
And a bit more kind, a bit more content, and a bit more simple.
I'm not in the UK, but warmly wish you well with this, Karen.
Buen dissertation camino, peregrina...
 
Of course it's about transformation.
You get more and more comfortable in your own skin, and more and more comfortable with others in theirs.
And a bit more kind, a bit more content, and a bit more simple.
I'm not in the UK, but warmly wish you well with this, Karen.
Buen dissertation camino, peregrina...
Thank you so much, VNwalking, for your comments and good wishes - much appreciated!
Kindest regards
Karen
 
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Hi Karen,

I also wrote my dissertation on the topic of the Camino, so I can relate to your experience!! Best of luck to you.

I walked the Camino shortly after losing my mother, and I would definitely say that the pilgrimage served as a way for me to work through my grief. I didn’t come home “fine”; grief doesn’t work like that. But there is a catharsis in pilgrimage, and the experiences I had while on the trail were certainly healing. I would be happy to discuss this further if you would like. Feel free to email me at personal email address deleted by moderator
Hi Caminoresearcher

Thank you for your kind reply and for sharing your experience of the Camino. If you are resident in England or Wales in the UK, I'd be happy to send you a copy of the information sheet for the research project. Unfortunately, my university will only cover me (insurance-wise) to interview people in England or Wales. If you send me an email address in a personal message, as Purky described, I'll send it to you.

Kindest regards
Karen
 
Karen, I’m so glad you are researching this, as it seems so many fellow pilgrims have had similar experiences. It was certaily “transformational” for me on my first - and only - Camino, so far, in 2017 when I walked the Camino Portugues. I plan/hope to walk the CF in Holy Year 2021. My wife has younger onset Alzheimer’s and I am her caregiver. My daughters gave me a tremendous gift when they told me, “Dad, we know you have wanted to walk the Camino. Go do it; we’ll take care of Mom.” So I did.
Somewhere on the trail south of Arcade in the blazing heat of August, was the first real chance I had to really process things, how this disease had dashed all our plans, how our future would be. It hit me like a ton of bricks and for the first time I broke down and sobbed. I didn’t care; I was alone on the trail. But then there was this overwhelming feeling of calm; that feeling that despite what had happened, things would work out. And so I went on. I met some wonderful people. We shared as much or as little as we cared about our lives, our circumstances. It was almost like Confession, knowing that what was shared was held in confidence - feeling blessed and unburdened. Arriving at the Cathedral in Santiago was an emotional experience for me and the people I had befriended. When I returned home I was on fire and people noticed something different. My challenges as a caregiver have not disappeared, but I have been able to meet them with new vigor and a greater sense of peace. Happy to share more with you as part of your project. Good luck.
Dear Michael

Thank you for responding to my post about this, and for sharing your very moving story about the Camino. It would almost certainly meet the criteria of what I can include in my research but I'm only allowed to interview people who are resident in England or Wales, on account of the insurance requirements of my university. I'd be happy to send you a copy of the information sheet if you'd like to send me a personal message with an email address in it.

Kindest regards
Karen
 
I just want to check in with people who have contributed to the publicly visible part of this thread. Would anyone mind if I posted a link to this conversation on my research page on Facebook? I note that most people here use pseudonyms but one or two use what I'm assuming are their own names, as I have. I think the points people are making about the nature of pilgrimage and that transformation is almost definitional for it, are very valuable. I'd like to draw more people into the conversation to take it forward some more, and I still need to make contact with some people who are resident in England or Wales for my interviews. You can see my research page on Facebook at @KarenWilliamsResearch.

Many thanks.
Karen
 
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Karen, I walked the CF in Sep-Oct of 2015 and experienced a Transformation at Cruz de Ferro. I am attaching a film I made of my experience. As you will see before getting to the shrine I was not feeling anything out of the norm, but as I approached the site a wave of emotion overtook me. I can't honestly say there was any trama involved, but it was a life changing experience.
 
Hi Karen,
When I walked my first Camino, I thought it was just a sportive, cultural adventure.
Along "The Way" I realized I was walking to try to heal from a trauma.
I thought I already had recovered from losing our only child, who only lived for 5 days, now 14 years ago.
By walking the Camino I found a way to go through the pain instead of around it.
 
Hi Karen,
When I walked my first Camino, I thought it was just a sportive, cultural adventure.
Along "The Way" I realized I was walking to try to heal from a trauma.
I thought I already had recovered from losing our only child, who only lived for 5 days, now 14 years ago.
By walking the Camino I found a way to go through the pain instead of around it.
Hi Alex
The loss of one's child is a very poignant form of loss. Thank you for sharing about your experience of walking the Camino. I was at the Confraternity of St James's open day in London yesterday, and something that was being discussed there was how people go on the Camino for many different reasons, but part of what they take with them is psychological/emotional material as well as the T shirts and socks etc in their rucksacks. But the walking itself, and the special context of the Camino in which you are walking, can bring you face-to-face with some of that other material. And also that, there you are, with this steady rhythm of one foot in front of the other for hours a day, and day after day. I sometimes think this is our original way of processing things, trauma included. It's a natural form of "bilateral stimulation" which is what EMDR trauma therapy is based on. But thank you again for sharing - this is exactly what I'm researching as, amazingly, it's not in the literature about pilgrimage.
Kindest regards
Karen
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Karen, I walked the CF in Sep-Oct of 2015 and experienced a Transformation at Cruz de Ferro. I am attaching a film I made of my experience. As you will see before getting to the shrine I was not feeling anything out of the norm, but as I approached the site a wave of emotion overtook me. I can't honestly say there was any trama involved, but it was a life changing experience.
Hi Steve
Thank you for sharing your beautiful video. I cried with you! I think for me, it was about a sense of connection - with all the people before us who have contributed to what the Cruz de Ferro is about now, and with you, because you were kind enough to share your thoughts and feelings in this way. You made a very important point that for you, being at Cruz de Ferro on your own made it possible for you to experience what you did, and you could see that the people who had companions did not appear to be as deeply affected as those who were on their own there. I've experienced this too, in Nepal especially. It's a different experience when you travel on your own and you can sometimes go deeply into contemplation or connection with something in a way that a group experience doesn't seem to allow.
Kindest regards
Karen
 
What led us to do the Camino was two-fold - one, because I had just retired and was finding the "nine-to-five" culture very difficult to let go of. And two, because the relationship between myself and my husband was suffering badly. My mother had been living with us since my father died and she and my husband were finding it hard to cope with each other (indeed, I would often feel a bit like a piggy-in-the-middle as each would complain about the other as soon as I arrived home from work!). One was solved by persuading my mother to move into a flat in sheltered housing, where she still lives and is very happy.

Our journey really began with the moment we decided to go on a Camino, just the two of us. We had to rely heavily on each other and can, with hand on my heart, say that we only had one slight difference of opinion in all the three weeks we were together on the route.

I loved the churches which was a primary goal for me. Meeting other, like-minded, people along the way. Sharing the amenities in the albergues - although this was nothing new to us, the fact that the dorms were mixed was and yet we found no problems sharing as we were all there for a common purpose. I experienced more pain, more joy, more awe than at any other time in my life. And the Compostelas that we both collected in Santiago filled my heart with pride. I know my husband felt the same, although he never said.

It was hard. The constant getting back on that bike every day tested us both and at times we both wondered if we had taken on too much. Indeed, it was only a text from one of our granddaughters after I had said we were thinking of giving up half-way through that prompted us to carry on. She said she was so proud at how brave we were - and encouraged us to carry on as it would be a pity to give up after going so far.

I am a great believer that things happen for a reason and certainly found this during our Camino. We arrived in Pamplona (quite by accident) during the week of the Bull Run - something I have always shied away from. We were fortunate because we had arrived in the afternoon so did not experience the bull run itself, but instead realised that this week is not driven only by that spectacle. Instead, the whole city comes alive with revellers who see this as a time to get together, have fun get-togethers, and truly enjoy the atmosphere. We didn't stay overnight because we were warned that it would be very noisy all night. But we did spend a few glorious hours basking in the atmosphere of humanity at its best.

At one time we found ourselves riding through a thickly wooded area almost deafened by the shrill singing of birds. The sudden emergence from the protection of trees into complete silence was startling as the sudden glow of a very hot sun beating down on us once again. Indeed, birds featured a lot on our Camino, as we kept an eye out for the beautiful storks and their nests festooned at the top of towers.

Did the Camino change us? Yes, I believe it did. We both grew spiritually - I know I did. How can you not. We have become closer since returning, and can talk to each other about things we would never have dreamed of before. I cannot describe the feeling you get when you reach your destination - mixed with both joy at having made it, and regret that you had finished it. Indeed, I envy those who walk the route because they get to draw on the experience over a longer period.

We had thought of riding all the way back then something horrendous happened that sent us into a spin and "brought us back to earth". We rode the Camino in 2013 and the dreadful event that took the heart out of everything was that awful train crash that happened on 24th July of that year, the day after we had arrived in Santiago. So very sad. We both needed time to reflect on our time on the Camino and how badly everyone had been affected by the sorrow of a whole city coming to a complete standstill after having experienced such a brutal event.
 
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... but as I approached the site a wave of emotion overtook me. I can't honestly say there was any trama involved, but it was a life changing experience.

I found your honest, open personal sharing very moving.

Would you please share what music you have playing when you ascend and move along from the Cruz

Many thanks...
 
Sorry I took so long to get back to you, but I lost the site for a while. Of course, I should have put it at the end of the movie ;-). Cirque du Soleil, Pokinoï [From Saltimbanco].
 
Dear Karen,
So glad you are researching further into this:) Actually, I have done research both on the Camino and the Olav's Way, concerning the motives, processes, effects and therapeutics of pilgrimage walking. Please look into my Mphil dissertation and second of three published PhD articles on the subject (I have written some more, if you find me on research gate, there is a publishing list there:)
Please inform me of your results and research when it's done!:)
Best, Nanna
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Hi Karen,

I also wrote my dissertation on the topic of the Camino, so I can relate to your experience!! Best of luck to you.

I walked the Camino shortly after losing my mother, and I would definitely say that the pilgrimage served as a way for me to work through my grief. I didn’t come home “fine”; grief doesn’t work like that. But there is a catharsis in pilgrimage, and the experiences I had while on the trail were certainly healing. I would be happy to discuss this further if you would like. Feel free to email me at personal email address deleted by moderator
Could you be so kind and send me your dissertation? n a n n a _ n a t a l i a at h o t m a i l dot c o m
 
Dear All

I'm interested in the transformational nature of the pilgrimage experience, as I've walked a number of pilgrimages myself in the past. So now I'm researching this for my dissertation on the MSc in Psychological Trauma at the University of Chester. Amazingly, this aspect of pilgrimage hardly appears at all in the academic literature, and it's time it did! I think this is why many of us do it to start with. I'm looking to make contact with anyone who feels their experience of walking the Camino (any route) has helped them work through some personal crisis, or highly stressful or traumatic event or situation in their lives, and who feels they've grown as a person through their struggles with whatever it was they were dealing with. This kind of personal growth is known as posttraumatic growth, but in this context, "trauma" has a much wider applicability than solely PTSD or Complex PTSD. If anyone would like more information about my research project, or would possibly be interested in being interviewed about their experience of walking the Camino, please get in touch. I have a research page on Facebook - see @KarenWilliamsResearch, and there's also an Information Sheet I can send to potential participants.

Many thanks
Karen
This research project has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Chester.
I was very difficult to find your reserch on facebook - can you please post a direct link to it here?
 

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